Blind resumes: How to remove hiring bias and boost job fairness

Hiring managers always choose the best candidates by objectively examining their skills, cover letters, and resumes, right? Unfortunately not. Hiring bias is a major issue in recruitment, and some believe that blind resumes may be able to help solve it.

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Blind resumes remove all of an applicant’s personally identifiable information to help prevent conscious or unconscious bias. Some blind resumes even remove the names of educational institutions. Learn the answers to the questions “What is a blind resume?” and “What is blind resume screening?” so you can effectively participate in anonymous selection processes.

A blind resume removes personal details that can lead to bias in hiring decisions. Unlike a traditional resume, a blind resume removes the following identifiers:

Name
Gender
Age
Ethnicity
Address
Personal pronouns
Educational institutions

A blind resume review can make the hiring process fairer and less biased. Anonymous job application documents shift the focus toward relevant skills and work experience.

However, it’s vital to carefully review your resume and ensure it is free from any content that could reveal information about your background, age, gender, or ethnicity. For instance, pronouns on resume documents can give away your preferred gender, which could potentially lead to bias.

Expert Tip:

Implementing blind hiring doesn’t mean companies should ignore diversity or abandon their inclusivity efforts. Instead, organizations should use blind resumes as a first step while also incorporating structured interviews and inclusive hiring strategies to ensure a holistic approach to fair recruitment.

The biggest proponents of blind resume reviews argue that blind resumes can help combat bias during the hiring process. During a survey conducted among human resources professionals, researchers discovered that 48% of HR managers admit that bias affects who they hire.1

Bias during hiring can take many forms, including the following:

Gender Bias: Women’s resumes may be overlooked for leadership roles compared to men with identical experience
Age Discrimination: Older candidates may be viewed as less capable, despite extensive experience
Ethnicity-Based Discrimination: Applicants with non-Western names may be less likely to receive responses

Blind hiring reduces these biases and promotes more inclusive workplaces. Companies that embrace blind resumes can achieve improvements in talent diversity and enhanced overall hiring fairness.

Businesses can also lean into blind hiring processes to strengthen their reputation among consumers and potential investors. Modern consumers want to support brands that share their values and operate ethically.

If you are participating in an anonymous hiring process, you’ll need to create a blind resume and cover letter. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of what you’ll need to do.

1. Remove identifiable information

Step one involves reviewing your resume and removing any identifiable information. Some information you will need to omit includes the following:

Name
Contact information
LinkedIn profile
Photos
Address
Personal pronouns

While something as simple as an address may seem harmless, it can feed into a hiring team’s unconscious bias. For example, suppose that you live in a predominantly minority neighborhood and list your address on your resume. The HR manager may make assumptions about your race or ethnicity based on where you live.

Make sure to review a blind resume example for guidance about what you should and shouldn’t include. You should also check out a blind cover letter sample for inspiration about how to stand out while removing your personally identifiable information.

2. Focus on skills and experience

Many applicants wonder how they will stand out if they remove all of the information that makes them unique. The answer lies in your experience and skills.

All resumes need to draw attention to your skills. However, anonymous resumes must be especially focused on what you bring to the table. Review some resume examples to discover new ways to highlight your dynamic skill set. Mix up your verbiage to make the resume flow better.

While you are fine-tuning your resume, make sure that it is customized based on the job you are applying to. This means mentioning skills you possess that were listed in the job posting. Adjusting your resume for each position shows that you read the job application and understand what is expected of you in the new role.

3. Optimize for applicant tracking systems (ATS)

Many businesses use application tracking systems to pre-screen resumes. If your resume doesn’t make it past the ATS, the hiring team will never even see it. Therefore, you need to use job description keywords to ensure that your resume is ATS-friendly.

You’ll also need to follow a clear, readable structure without unnecessary formatting. Make sure your resume isn’t too cluttered, as that can affect the ATS platform’s ability to process the text.

If you need help fine-tuning your resume, find an ATS-optimized resume template. These templates are pre-formatted to help applicant tracking systems accurately analyze the information in your resume.

4. Use anonymized resumes in job applications

Many hiring platforms now support blind applications. Take advantage of this opportunity when available, especially if you believe that you are among the many minority groups who often face bias.

You should also review application requirements when applying to individual companies. Many businesses are exploring blind resume review processes as a means of promoting their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals. If you find the idea of participating in an anonymous hiring process appealing, look for businesses that have adopted this approach.

Blind resumes are gaining traction among employers and job seekers. However, like any type of application document, anonymous resumes have several benefits along with a few drawbacks. Here are some factors to consider when deciding whether to submit a blind resume or not.

Benefits

Reduce Unconscious Bias: Hiring managers focus on skills and qualifications
Encourage Diverse Hiring: Creates opportunities for candidates from underrepresented backgrounds
Shift to Skills-Based Selection: Candidates are judged based on competencies rather than educational pedigree or past employers

Challenges

Industry-Specific Limitations: Some professions require detailed work history
Bias in Later Stages: Blind resumes don’t address bias in interviews or workplace culture
Hindrance in Network-Based Hiring: Referral-based recruiting becomes difficult without personal identifiers

Some industries simply aren’t well-adapted for blind hiring. For example, businesses searching for creative or tech talent often want to see portfolios of an applicant’s past work before scheduling an interview. Similarly, healthcare organizations need to know about a healthcare professional’s work history and where they studied school to verify that they are properly licensed.

If you are a strong candidate but are concerned about bias impacting your odds of landing a job, consider using blind resumes. By doing so, you can promote bias-free hiring and may even give yourself a better opportunity to land your dream job.

Blind resume reviews are a great first step for businesses that are committed to addressing hiring bias. However, these companies can build on the benefits of anonymous resumes by doing the following:

Conducting initial phone screenings to make the first round of interviews anonymous
Administering skills assessments before moving onto the interview stage
Using AI-driven hiring tools to further reduce bias in applicant screening

Several companies are already working toward a less biased hiring process. For example, Global Inclusion Online Forum (GIOF) announced that it successfully recruited new employees via the first fully blind hiring process.2 The company claims that its process is unique because the HR team made the hiring decision before the candidate’s identity was revealed.

"The biggest proponents of blind resume reviews argue that blind resumes can help combat bias during the hiring process."

Blind resume reviews provide you with an opportunity to showcase what you bring to the table while also protecting you from biased decision-making. However, you still need to create dynamic job application documents and ensure you highlight what value you would bring to the organization.

As you prepare for an anonymous hiring process, take advantage of resume and cover letter templates. These digital resources help you customize your documents for each job, get past ATS software, and stand out as a candidate.

Sources:

(1) Forbes Report: Breaking Down Barriers: How to Combat Bias in the Hiring Process

(2) Spiceworks Report: CFC Big Ideas Successfully Hires Candidate From the World’s First Fully Blind Hiring Experiment

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